ACROSS THE NATION.

Governors worried over National Guard

DES MOINES, IOWA — The nation's governors are expressing growing concern that the extended deployment of National Guard soldiers in Iraq is depleting emergency resources at home.

The state's leaders, meeting here at the summer gathering of the National Governors Association, said they were worried that the extended overseas deployments and declining enlistments would strip them of what has for years been a bulwark against domestic emergencies.

"If we had a major natural disaster, we would be stretched thin," said Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.